Day 1: Cusco to Iquitos – Sanctuaries
(Wednesday July 3)
Today we explore the concept of sanctuary – for our animal brothers and sisters and especially for ourselves!
Short morning flight from Cusco to Iquitos
Visit to a Amazon Rescue Center sanctuary
Lunch at Amazon Dawn Cafe
Boat trip up the Nanay River
Visit to Wildlife Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Center
Transfer to Dimenciones Espirituales Retreat Center
Opening circle and night time Aya Ceremony
Overnight at Dimenciones Espirituales
About Iquitos
Iquitos is the largest city on the Amazon River in Peru and has wide variety of services and accommodations.
We will be met at the airport and transferred to Visit the Amazon Rescue Center where conservationists are working to rescue and rehabilitate displaced, injured and abused wildlife. The manatees are the headline animals but there are many others receiving care including tortoises, many species of monkeys, macaws, sloths, river otters and Jaguars to name a few. Co-sponsored by the Dallas Aquarium conservation team – we have the opportunity to get up-and-personal with the wildlife of the Amazon and learn about our role in their preservation. We will have the privilege of interacting with these beautiful creatures from bottle-feeding young manatees to holding endearing sloths.
Stop for lunch at the Dawn of the Amazon Cafe before heading to Padre Cocha.
After lunch we have a short boat ride from the Amazon up the Nanay River to the small village of Padre Cocha. Here we will visit the Pilpintuwasi Wildlife Orphanage run by Austrian Gudrun Sperrer and have the opportunity to have more intimate experiences with the indigenous animals of the area.
Pilpintuwasi is a wildlife rescue and temporary custody center located on 20 hectares of land in the village of Padre Cocha, 20 minutes outside of Iquitos. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting animals affected by the poaching and trafficking industry which sadly thrives in Iquitos. They work with the ecological police to take in animals confiscated from markets, airports and homes, which often arrive with injuries and badly malnourished.
We will then transfer to Dimenciones Espirituales Retreat Center and meet the Shipibo Shaman Javier Arevalo Shahuano – a friend of Lesley’s and a powerful healer. The center is a rustic and relaxing oasis. We will have the afternoon to lighten the mind and body amid the beauty of the Amazon.
Evening opening circle and overnight Aya Ceremony.
Links:
Iquitos
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/peru/amazon-basin/iquitos
Amazon Rescue Center
http://www.centroderescateamazonico.com/en/home/
Dawn of the Amazon Cafe
Pilpintuwasi Wildlife Orphanage
Dimenciones Espirituales Retreat Center
https://www.spiritualdimensions.org/
Javier Arevalo Shahuano
https://retreat.guru/teachers/12870/javier-arevalo-shahuano
Gallery: